FOR nearly 50,000 British women with PIP breast implants – those made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implants Prothese – this is an alarming time.

For nearly 50,000 British women with PIP breast implants this is an alarming time []

If, as it is now feared, eight per cent of them could face ­serious health problems, caused by the implants’ industrial-grade ­silicone which was never authorised for medical use, this would constitute one of the biggest ever scandals to hit the breast implant industry.

What the scare has also done is to cause us to reflect on exactly how the “boob job” has become so popular in the UK. Most of us know a friend who has had one; it is chirpily spoken of in programmes such as The Only Way Is Essex (where most of the female stars proudly sport them) and, in the words of consultant plastic surgeon Nigel Mercer, it has become an entirely ­routine procedure “like having your tonsils out”.

In the UK, around 1,200 women a year have breast implants on the NHS as part of reconstructive work following surgery for cancer but a far higher figure, around 25,000 a year, simply want a bigger or better bust.

In the UK, around 1,200 women a year have breast implants on the NHS

Over the past decade doctors ­estimate there has been a threefold increase while the British Association Of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) saw a 10 per cent rise from 2009-2010 alone and it is now the ­ most popular cosmetic procedure performed in this country.

It is not simply modern women who have sought to enhance their decolletage however. Some historians believe ancient Romans experimented with breast implants and there is certainly ­documentary evidence dating back to the late 19th century, with one of the earliest examples of breast ­reconstructive surgery coming in 1895 when Austrian surgeon, Dr Vincenz Czerny rebuilt a woman’s breast using fat he had taken from another part of her body.

Other records tell of paraffin wax being injected into the breast – and even ivory and glass balls or ox cartilage – but these procedures were rarely successful. The breasts often became misshapen, lumpy and hard and infections were common.

By the Twenties, Czerny’s method of transferring fatty tissue from elsewhere in the body to the breast became a popular practice but it, too, had drawbacks: the body’s natural response to the sudden arrival of fat was to break it down, which led to the breasts becoming misshapen.

During the Second World War the use of silicone first came into effect when Japanese prostitutes injected their breasts with industrial silicone liquid in order to appeal to American GIs. However, the resultant health problems meant that it was only in the Sixties – ironically a decade when waif-like models such as Twiggy ­dominated the catwalk – that the modern breast implant as we know it came into effect.

This featured silicone gel encased in a silicone envelope and the first woman to have the operation was Timmie Jean Lindsey. A 36-year-old Texan mother of six, Timmie was ­persuaded in 1962 to become a guinea pig for Dr Frank Gerow, who along with his colleague Dr Thomas Cronin, had developed an implant for women whose breasts had sagged following childbirth.

Apparently Timmie wasn’t too ­worried about her own bust but was self-conscious about her ears and agreed to take part if Gerow would pin her ears back at the same time.

Nevertheless, she was delighted with the results and was used as a poster girl for Gerow and Cronin for decades. Her operation caused a boom in plastic surgery with women both sides of the Atlantic clamouring for implants.

However, the operation continued to be controversial. In more recent years, Timmie herself admitted she started to experience pain in the Eighties.

I n the Nineties 170,000 women brought an action against the US manufacturers, Dow Corning Corporation – to whom Cronin and Gerow had sold their invention – complaining of ruptures, leakages and severe pain. It was not until 2006 that US authorities re-approved the use of ­silicone implants although other ­governments continued to judge them safe and they were ruled non-toxic by the UK in the late Nineties.

Alternatives to silicone evolved, including saline breast implants (which had a tendency to deflate) and soya bean oil implants, which were banned in the UK in 2000 after tests showed leaking implants could cause cancer or birth defects.

According to Douglas McGeorge, consultant plastic surgeon and former president of BAAPS, the modern implant made of silicone gel is the safest it has ever been. “The old-style implants had the problem of what they now call capsular contraction, essentially becoming too hard,” he says. “That was because they made the wall around the silicone implant very thin. Modern implants are made with a thicker, rough outer coating which has reduced the risk of capsular contraction from 45 per cent to less than five per cent.”

McGeorge puts the popularity of breast implants down to improvements in the industry and the fact that costs have stayed the same (around £5,000 per operation) over the past 20 years, so the price has gone down in real terms.

Daily Express columnist Dr Rosemary Leonard believes the trend for boob jobs is celebrity-driven. “It’s the Victoria Beckhams of this world and the likes of ­Dannii Minogue,” she says. “I’m sure that’s had an impact.”

Certainly, breast implants have made the career of many a celebrity. Pamela Anderson, who shot to fame running along the beach in TV series ­Baywatch, has even admitted her surgically enhanced embonpoint was the star of the show and she has “basically been ­tagging along for the ride”.

Amy Childs, former star of The Only Way Is Essex says she had implants because “my boobs were tiny – I went from an AA to a D.”

“What’s happened is that women all think they should have a cleavage now,” says Dr Leonard.

“They’re no longer happy to have small breasts. Big breasts have become the norm and because so many people are having it done, it encourages others. I generally advise people to live with what they’ve got because it can go wrong and I’ve seen so many women who have regretted it afterwards.”

McGeorge, though, insists the operation can have huge psychological benefits for those who really want it. “Breast ­augmentation, if done well, can be a life-changing operation,” he says. “Some women are very introverted before the operation and feel so much more comfortable about their bodies afterwards. Many women who don’t have an awful lot of breast tissue just don’t feel particularly feminine. Just look at the number of padded bras sold around the world.

“The idea that people want to look like Dolly Parton when they come for breast augmentation is very far from the truth. The vast majority simply want to feel good and look natural.”